Tracy police investigate hate crime after swastika found on city councilmember's lawn

TRACY -- A Tracy City Council member's family was targeted by a hate crime this week when a Nazi swastika was created on their property using landscape rocks, police said.

The rocks were found arranged at the home on the 1500 block of Arrigotti Lane on Tuesday morning, Lt. Mark Duxbury said. The family is African American, Duxbury said.

Councilwoman Nancy Young told the Tracy Press she was leaving her home Tuesday morning when she saw the symbol. Police said they believe the crime occurred either late Monday or after midnight on Tuesday.

Police did not comment, citing the ongoing investigation. But Young told the paper that her doorbell rang several times around 1:35 a.m. Tuesday morning but that nobody answered the door.

"It's unnerving to think that someone was so close to my house doing this," Young told the Tracy Press.

The incident is believed to be an isolated one, Duxbury said. The city experienced two reported Hate Crimes in 2011 and two in 2012.